Heroin overdose deaths on rise in Kashmir

Deaths caused by drug overdose, especially among youngsters, are on the rise as Heroin addiction has assumed horrifying proportions in Kashmir.

Doctors at the drug de-addiction centre of the Institute of Mental health & Neurosciences (IMHANS) in Srinagar said that the facility has been flooded with patients taking deadly drugs like Heroin in recent years.

Over 90 per cent of the people seeking treatment for substance abuse are taking Intravenous (IV) Heroin, a serious, life-threatening substance. The chances of an overdose in Heroin are very high, they said.

“We need to do a study about the deaths among young people and then only we may be able to find exact details about deaths happening due to drug overdose,” Dr Arshid Hussain, a professor of Psychiatry at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar, told DH.

Dr Hussain who is among the first doctors in Kashmir to work on drug addiction said the fact that IV drug abuse has shot up is reason enough to believe that the deaths due to drugs have increased. “It is very difficult to prevent overdose, very difficult to revive patients who have suffered an overdose,” he added.

Dr Saleem Khan, Head Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at GMC Srinagar said he was aware of many cases where patients have died in intensive care units and the deaths have been tagged as “heart attacks”.

“We as a community have a tendency to cover up drug-related deaths. It is causing a wrong perception and also creating hurdles in the proper estimate of overdose-related deaths,” he said.

The GMC Srinagar runs two outpatient departments (OPDs) for people seeking treatment of various substance addictions, including lethal Heroin. In 2020, nearly 7500 addiction cases were reported at these two centres while in 2021, nearly 14000 people abusing various drugs were registered.

The IV abuse of Heroin, as per doctors treating for addiction, is the “last nail in the coffin” for the youth due to its difficult withdrawal process and highly dangerous nature.

“The proportion of people seeking treatment for heroin abuse is just the tip of the iceberg. Easy availability of heroin is one of the major reasons for a steep rise in such cases in the last two or three years,” said Dr Yasir Rather, in charge of the drug de-addiction centre at GMC Srinagar.

Law enforcement agencies blame Pakistan for pumping huge quantities of narcotics into Kashmir. “Lot of drugs and narcotics are being pumped into the Valley from across the border. Pakistan is targeting youngsters by making them habitual to drugs,” Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh said.

“Pakistan is repeating the same dirty game in Kashmir that they played in Punjab - first giving arms training and later spoiling the youth with drugs,” he added.

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